Please feel welcome into our off-grid family life on the remote country side of Värmland, Sweden

Details

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  Description

  As we have been die-hard work-away'ers ourselves for years, it is nice to be able to be on the other side of this exchange-experience and we would love to welcome you. Our profile can be a little over-complete, but having the experience we have, we really know what works best for us and we hope it does for you too.
  
  We are Anne (38) & Martijn (44), a Dutch (from the Netherlands) couple with a 5 year old son called Espen and a 1 year old daughter called Iep. After traveling and living in a camper for 4 years, it was time to settle down. Which we did, on the remote country side of Sweden. Here we bought an abandoned homestead, situated at a lake on 4,5 hectares of forest. This place hasn't been touched by humans for decades and it is one big adventure to build it up again.
  
  Since June 2021, we live here as a family. After spending the winter of 2020/2021 to make one of the two houses suitable to live in, we started working on the rest of our plans for this property. And that list is endless. We see this place as our lifework, which will hopefully end later than sooner.
  
  Please know, that this is an OFF-GRID homestead. We now live in a <35 m2 cabin with the 4 of us. Although we made use of modern techniques to make our life here incredibly comfortable, it means that we (and you) need to think about the use of water and solar powered electricity. For us it is incredibly rewarding to live a lifestyle, working together with nature and adapting to that. Meaning that we, for instance, keep an eye on the weather foresight and we will shower and wash, when the sun filled up our battery pack. On rainy and cloudy days we try to use as less electrics as possible. We cook our food on a wood stove, which simultaneously heats up our water. This way we have hot water or showers etc. Our house is full of "luxury", but with a lot more thought and work, than you would have in a "normal" house. This is by no means and easy lifestyle, but if you have any interest in an off-grid way of living, it might be the place for you.
  
  Your are most welcome to apply and volunteer with us. We would love for you to read our whole profile first!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Since we aren't native Swedish people, we aren't the once to let you experience a typical Swedish way of living. However, we feel like we have a lot of offer. If you are interested in an off-grid lifestyle, we can show you our wins and loses and the things we have learned along the way. Thereby, Martijn has been a carpenter for over 20 years and he would love to teach you a lot of things, at least when you are pro-active and willing to learn.
  
  You also come to the right place when you want to experience a peaceful, quiet and relaxed stay. Still, it is a busy season with the guests we have, the garden to maintain and the kids to look after. But, the whole atmosphere might feel very piece and quiet. We are far away from traffic, other houses, street lights etc. Weeks can go by, without seeing a single soul around here.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  We are only open for long stays, but we also love to work "project-based". When we were volunteering ourselves, we felt like it was nice to know beforehand what the ongoing projects were, so we knew what we could expect. We would love to know from you what you prefer to do as well, so we can agree on the work we can do together. Also, this way we can give you the responsibility to work out one of these projects yourself, if you feel like and are skilled to do so.
  
  We are looking for a couple / two friends (without kids) who will help us out during the summer. Mainly June July and August, but earlier or later can be negotiated.
  
  Some projects include:
  - chopping firewood. This is a never ending story and can always be done.
  - helping out on our small scaled off grid camp site, which is full the whole summer. We have 7 spots and 2 furnished tents for rent.
  - help cleaning / heating the sauna and the hot tub for our guests.
  - help with the build of our second house (we will move there when it is finished)
  - help with the last details on the build of our sauna.
  - building a outside pizza / bread oven, when you are skilled to do that?
  - help in our vegetable garden
  
  We ask of you to not have a 9-5 mentality. Would you like to go swimming after lunch? Great! But would you then help us out again when the campers arrive in the afternoon? It is a constant dance between who does what and when and you must be aware that the summer is a really busy season here.
  
  Besides these plans we off course have a daily life as well. We have two kids to take care off. There are groceries that need to be done, food that needs to be cooked, etc. So, if you don't feel comfortable helping out on the projects above, you are more than welcome to help in and around the house.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  Swedish: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  We would love to learn the Swedish language, better than we do now. In exchange we can teach you Dutch or English, if that is something you would like to learn!
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  Accommodation

  Bring your own camper and we offer you a spot on our property. Sleep in your own van and use the bathroom in our camper to shower or use the toilet.
  
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  One thing we learned from being work-away'ers ourselves, was to maintain a (for us) healthy balance between time spend together and private time. As we will now be your hosts, we would like you to know that we love to share our space and time with you, but also value our family time. It is great, when you feel the same way.
  
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  As said above, we would prefer to host couples / friends. Since we were a couple when we were work-away'ing, we noticed the value of having the chance to share your experience with somebody close by.
  
  If you are a single person, willing to visit us, it is important to know that we expect you to be independent and pro-active. We are very open and easy to talk to, for whatever needed. But, on the other hand, we can not be with you 24/7.
  
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  We will provide you with 3 meals a day:
  
  1) Another thing we learned during our long-term voluntary experience, is that we prefer to have breakfast by ourselves. Also as a host, we still feel like this. This way, we can start the day as a family and you can have some alone time in the morning as well. Of course will make sure you get what you need to make you own breakfast.
  
  2) We are vegetarians and will only offer vegetarian food. Occasionally it's vegan by coincidence, but we will not host people who lead a strict vegan lifestyle. Unless they are willing to prepare their own food.
  
  3) It would be super if you like to cook occasionally as well.
  
  4) We love to make things ourselves. We bake our own bread and eat as much out of our garden. When it is the right season we make our own jam. I

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  What else ...

  We would prefer for you to have a drivers license. This would come in handy for both you and us. We have 2 cars you could use. At first, this would be the only way to "escape" our remote place, if you would like to go and explore another place. On the other hand, it would be convenient for us too if you could do some groceries occasionally.
  
  Of course there is plenty of space around here by foot as well. We also have a boat and stand up paddle (SUP) boards, that you could take out on the lake and spend your free time like that if you prefer.
  
  We only go out for our groceries once a week. We always combine this with other things we need, since the bigger cities are 45-60 minutes (one way) away from here. Please keep in mind that we live really remote, with not a lot of things to do around here, then to enjoy nature in a lot of different ways. Don't expect there to be restaurants, cinema's, bars etc. If you come here, you should really be a nature lover, without a big desire to live a city lifestyle.
  
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  We would love for you not to smoke, or at least not smoke within our child's reach / sight.
  
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  Keywords: skills, carpentry, carpenter, building, off-grid, off grid, outdoor, remote, countryside, family, vegetarian, active, pro-active, independent, couple, couples.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Space for parking camper vans

  On our property there is plénty of space to park your campervan or truck. We have lived in a camper ourselves for 4 years, so we know what it is like to travel and volunteer while living in a van. You are most welcome! We can not offer you another place to sleep, so it is a necessity that you have your own van. If you don't have or want to use your on bathroom / toilet, you are free to use ours.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  It is no problem if you are traveling with a pet. We had dog before and now we have a cat.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  My animals / pets

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